Will Germany finally start to generate true-sale securitizations next year, with all that means for the German economy?

Permal, part of French group Worms & Cie, announced last month that it had launched its first Islamic hedge fund.

Deutsche Bank is set to offer tailor-made corporate governance research on FTSE 350 companies before the end of the first quarter of 2004. Aimed at fund managers, it offers systematic analysis of corporate governance issues at top companies, providing further context for the financial numbers.

After two tough years, most big Wall Street and City of London firms are expected to post higher profits this year. It is early days but average end-of-year bonuses are predicted to rise by about 20% at the larger firms.

A growth rate rivalling China's has thrown up compelling corporate stories from India. Analysts polled by Euromoney favoured its companies for their investor-friendly qualities Kathryn Tully reports; research by Andrew Newby, Paul Pedzinski and David Skalinder.

Activity might be picking up in M&A departments but that hasn't stemmed the flow of experienced bankers willing to make the leap into corporate in-house teams. Partly it's a case of unemployed corporate financiers taking any job on offer. Recruiters say that the candidate pool in M&A is still much bigger than the number of jobs available, and there are now more positions going at corporates. "The money's nothing like what you get in the good times at a bank, but we have got corporate assignments on our books at the moment, but not banking ones, which speaks for itself," says David Timson, senior partner of recruitment firm The Curzon Partnership.

George Soros, billionaire speculator and philanthropist, was in a bad mood when he addressed the US Russian Investment Conference in Boston last month. On November 6, "40 hooded goons" raided the Moscow office of his Open Russia philanthropic venture, and took away boxes of files.

Has Silicon Valley finally got its groove back? Venture capital investment in start-up companies rose to $35 million in the third quarter, up 36% on the previous three months. M&A activity is also rising. And talk of a $20 billion initial public offering by Google is generating the kind of buzz last experienced in 1999.

After losing its way in the 1990s Gartmore seems to have turned the corner by emphasizing alternative investments, especially hedge funds and unusual techniques such as managers running long-only and hedge funds simultaneously. Julie Dalla-Costa reports.

One of the main drivers of economic growth in eastern Europe has been the accession of its states to Nato. Julian Evans meets Bruce Jackson, the former investment banker who made it happen.

CEO, the Americas Society

BCP's small size gives it an advantage when trading the sort of Latin companies it targets - those that operate beneath the big boys' radar - Felix Salmon reports.

Economic recovery and rallying equity markets have finally persuaded companies to acquire growth and market share once more. But M&A bankers determined to take cheer from October's rally should bear in mind another trend: corporates taking as much as possible of the process in house. Kathryn Tully reports.